The Hillsboro Indians hosted the Fayetteville Rockets on Tuesday at Hillsboro High School in varisty boys basketball and won 47-42 .
Hillsboro was able to build a solid 17-8 eight lead after one quarter of play thanks to a solid defensive effort and execution on offense that had Fayetteville scrambling.
Ryan Scott led the charge in the first quarter when he recorded eight of his game high 16 points including two three point baskets.
Mason Swayne, Ethan Watson and Luke Magulac each had two points in the first quarter and Jarrod Thompson added a three pointer of his own.
The Indians did not make it through the first quarter unscathed however as Gavin Temple, Reece Bloomfield and Swayne each picked up two fouls in the frame.
The second quarter produced five points between the two teams with Hillsboro’s Hunter Price recording two points early in the quarter while Levi Wiederhold and Dalton Novak combined for three points for the Rockets.
Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles, in an effort to manage foul trouble before the half, appeared to instruct his team to dribble the ball near mid court until the Fayetteville defender got close enough to initiate a closely guarded count.
However, Fayetteville refused to bite and allowed the Indians to take the clock from around three minutes to go in the second quarter until a timeout by the Indians with 37.6 seconds to play in the first half.
Hillsboro led 19-11 at halftime.
The third quarter got underway with a basket by Watson to give the Indians a double digit lead at 21-11 and shortly thereafter Swayne stole the ball and scored on a driving layup to push the Hillsboro lead to 26-13.
The Rockets recorded three consecutive baskets to cut the lead to seven points with about five minutes to play in the third quarter but, the Fayetteville run was cut short when Bowen Doane was called for a technical foul that sent the Indians’ Brad Miller to the line where he sank both attempts.
Scott connected on his third three pointer of the game in the third quarter to push the Hillsboro lead back to 10 points before the Rockets strung together six straight to cut the Indians’ lead to four points with 39 seconds to play in the third quarter.
A three pointer from Watson extended the lead back to seven points for Hillsboro and allowed the home team to take a 34-27 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Rockets were able to trim the lead to just three points on two occasions in the fourth period but it was not enough to overcome the homestanding Indians.
Ethan Watson took nine of the teams 12 free throws in the period and hit seven of them down the stretch to preserve the Indians lead.
Hillsboro will be back in action on Saturday when they host the McClain Tigers in a cross-county and Frontier Athletic Conference rivalry matchup.
Score by quarters
HHS 17-2-15-13
FHS 8-3-16-15
Hillsboro: Swayne 2-2/5-6; Magulac 1-2; Scott 2(4)-16; Watson 2(1)-7/9-14; Price 1-2; Thompson (1)-3; Miller 1-2/2-4
Totals: 9(6)-11/16-47
Fayetteville: Wiederhold 2-1/2-5; Doane 3-3/5-9; Murphy2-2/4-6; McCulley 5(1)-2/2-15; Coffman 2/3-2; Novak 2-1/3-5
Totals: 14(1)-11/19-42
Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
